The Pulpit Commentary — Ezekiel — Volume 2 — Section 192

Vers. 10-20.-llfen's misconception of God's govei·nment. Men are naturally prone to merge themselves in the nation. This was, perhaps, a stronger habit among the· Jews than among us. They could not understand how that, while God punished the nation, he could protect the individual. Israel may be depressed in fortune, while yet Daniel and his companions are elevated. Sodom may be destroyed, but Lot aball be- preserved. I. SUFFERING OFTEN BLINDS MEN'S EYES TO Goo's EQUITABLENESS. It is natural to- suppose that luxurious prosperity is due to our merits; and, if adversity visits us, we judge ourselves to be hardly dealt with. Scarcely one man in a thousand realizes the fact that he deserves nothing, and that the common benefits of air and food are the unpurchased gifts of God. .As soon as the suspension of Divine favours is felt- we are disposed to complain. We cannot conceive that we have deserved such hardship. We see others, no more replete with virtue than ourselves, enveloped in silk and purple, riding abroad in gilded cha.riots. Does God really rule over the interests and fortunes of men ? We have abandoned some evil courses: is not God going to reward us for this? Still, we can only think of our losses and our afflictions; we cannot see the higher benefits God is brin~ing to us. Through our blinding "tears we can only see- oppression and injustice. Through selfish tears we see only what we have lost, not what we have gained. We would rather discover injustice in God than iniquity within onnel ves. Truly has it been said, "There's none so blind a.a those who will not see." II. NATIONAL CALAMITY IS A SYMBOL OF PERSONAL PERDITION. The overthrow of a. nation is something visible, impressive, startling. Yet it is not the worse thing that can happen to a man. He may have to transfer his political allegiance to another. He may have to live under a different set of laws and institutions. He may have to quit. scenes in nature, with which he has been long familiar, for other scenes in a distant land. This loss, dishonour, banishment, are intended to remind him that there ie a. worse exile-s.n exile from his spirit's home, an exile from the kingdom of God, of which Canaan was but a symboL To be compelled to dwell among idolaters was a gracious chastisement, to make his spirit recoil from the fear of dwelling for ever among the foes of God. .And if the Hebrew exile took to heart the lessou, tl1at banishment to Babylon: might become to him salvation. ill. NATIONAL CALAMITY IB CONSONANT WITH PERSONAL WELL-BEING. The typical Jew was murmuring in Babylon that tbis destruction of the nation was incompatible with God's promise of life-a promise foUDded on personal repentance. "If our transgressions and our sins be upon us, and we pine away in them, how should we then live?" Their idea of life was free life in J udrea. God's idea of life was their return to allegiance and piety. "In bis favour," and in this alone, they could find life. Consequently, a penitent Jew could have found the highest life, even while an. exile in Babylon. If he personally felt and confessed his sin, if he reposed his soul on God's great mercy, if he bowed his spirit to God's will, and walked humbly with his Go<l this was life of the noblest kind. .And, like a saint of later date, he could "rejoice evey{ in tribulation." Better to dwell on Chebar's banks in the society of Jehovah than to dwell in the pala.ces of Jerusalem without God as a Friend. If God be my God, exile has no terror for me. Where God is, there is my heaven. IV. IlIGHTEOUSNESB MUST BE PERSONAL, NOT HEREDITARY NOR TRADITIONAL. The foolish and hurtful idea dwelt in the minds of the Jews that God's former favour to them as a nation was a guarantee for all future security. It was a species of anti- nomianism. Their maxim was," Once righteous, always righteous, notwithstanding our deeds." They imagined tliat they could not fall from their exalted position. It is marvellous how dee~rooted in some minds this prejudice respecting traditional piety becomes. But the fervid piety of former days will avail us nothing if faith and love· a.re now dead. It is only a living faith, a present submission, that God accepts. And if our former faith and love have evaporated, there ia clear evidence that it was only a pretence, and not the reality. To be accepted of God,aud to be accounted worthy of bearnn, I personally must be righteous. The righteousness of the n~tio!'- _is nothing else than the righteousness of the component parts. .And unless I 1nd1v1dually am ~'ihtcous in God's esteem, I 8hall be rejected and condemned in the great assize. V. PEBSONAL BlOllTEOUSNESS HAS ITS ROOT IN SINCERE REPENTANCE. Repentanc» OB. XXXIIL 1-33.] THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET EZEKIEL. 199